With the arrival of the biggest shopping day of the year, Regina residents hit the stores running this Black Friday.
Technology is always a big draw on the famous shopping day, and that has certainly been the case once again for many customers.
“I am out here pretty much every year at 7 o’clock in the morning or earlier just to try and get those deals and make everybody’s Christmas happy,” said Regina resident Rob Mack.
Outside Visions Electronics, Sarah Gillie was happy with her Black Friday haul as she snagged a laptop, headphones, a security system and more.
“I’ve probably saved over $1,000 on this one trip.”
And while many were ready and waiting for doors to open, there were seemingly fewer people than ever before lined up outside stores around Regina.
“Black Friday as an actual day has become less significant, as has Cyber Monday,” said retail analyst and author Bruce Winder.
“Retailers have spread Black Friday over a week or two and have spread Cyber Monday over at least a week. So it’s less about what happens on the actual day and more about what happens two weeks before.”
Both Mack and Gillie said they noticed hardly anyone lined up to head inside different stores.
“People are obviously watching their pocketbook and being a little more frugal this year just because of inflation and the cost of everything,” Mack said.
Winder said this year more than any other was important to have a large Black Friday window for both retailers and consumers.
“Retailers know that consumers are hurting right now,” he said. “And due to inflation, interest rates going up, stock markets going down, rents going up, geopolitical issues and more, consumers are quite nervous right now. We expect that retailers will offer some fairly decent savings.”
And while the deals might look tempting, that still isn’t reason enough for some to part ways with their cash.
“Even though something’s on sale, if you’re really watching your money and food is up 10 per cent and gas is up, you may just have to forgo that purchase,” Winder said.
For others, however, right now might be the perfect time to get the Christmas shopping done as money will be tight a month from now as well.
“When times are tough, I think today is the time to go out because there are some great sales,” Gillie said. “That way your dollar does go a little further.”
“There’s a whole bunch of consumers that realize this is the time to buy,” Winder explained. “They certainly don’t want to overpay and they realize that this is the time to buy because you’re going to buy at a lower price than if you wait.”
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